Do you have old Virginia Newspapers?

3 May 2012

Despite the fact that the Library of Virginia holds the largest collection of historic Virginia newspapers with 2616 titles on microfilm and over 2000 titles in original format, we are always interested in locating new issues of old Virginia newspapers to enhance our collection. If you or someone you know has old newspapers moldering away in an attic or basement, please send them our way.

We may be interested in your collection (even if it only a few scattered issues), especially if it contains newspaper titles we do not currently have represented in our collection. One of our main goals at the Virginia Newspaper Project is to promote access to these one-of-a-kind primary sources. You may donate your old newspapers or loan them to us long enough to allow us to microfilm them. Once on microfilm, they will be available to the public at the Library of Virginia and through our inter-library loan service. We are available to travel to your location to pick-up original newspapers, and depending on the quantity and condition of your newspapers, we can usually complete the microfilming task in the course of several months. If it is a significant collection, we can also provide a copy of the microfilm to be deposited to your local library so it may be used by your community.

You may direct your questions and inquiries to our Director Errol Somay at 804-692-3559 or by email errol.somay@lva.virginia.gov .

Hello, Thanks for letting us know about it! Do you know where it was published and what’s its frequency was (daily/weekly/semiweekly)? That will help me figure out whether or not we have it in our collection. Thank you!

We’re open with our definition of “old.” We have donations that date as far back as the early eighteenth century and donations published as recently as the 1990s and 2000s. If we don’t already have it in our collection, we are happy to take it. Thanks for your interest!